Redemption
by Kung-fu headdude
Summary: Harry is captured, brainwashed, and turned to darkness. But will one Ginny Weasly be his way out? Starts at the end of the sorcerers stone, but most of the story takes place later.
1. Chapter 1: Capture

**Redemption **

**Chapter 1: Capture**

**A/N- Hello Everybody! This starts at the end of the sorcerers' stone. Expect updates maybe once a week. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.**

"Get the boy!" Voldemort shouted in fury. Quirell responded by reaching quickly for Harry's neck. A cry of pain erupted from Quirell's lips as his hand started to blister and burn.

"You fool! Use your wand!"

Harry quickly tried to grab Quirell before he could reach for his wand but his former professor was to quick. In one fluid motion he took out his wand, wincing as he felt the pain in his blisters, and had the point between Harry's eyes. The last thing Harry heard before blacking out was a muttered "Stupefy".

After the boy fell down, Quirell searched him for the stone. Sure enough, he had it in his right pocket.

"Ah, finally I can get a body back after all these years."

Even after having his master in the back of his head for a long time the voice made him want to stammer like that weakling he pretended to be.

" You will be rewarded greatly for your actions of course," he continued on, "you preformed your part greatly.

" Thank you, my master. If you don't mind me asking, why do you want the boy? It would be easier to just kill him."

"Are you questioning me, Quirell?" the voice came out icy and thin.

"Of c-c-course not my master," Quirell stammered out.

"I will pardon you insolence this one time, as you served me greatly. The answer is because the boy would make a great follower. He is powerful; of this there is no doubt. The only problem is his loyalties.

Now pick up his body and lets get out of this castle before that buffoon Dumbledore comes. Not wanting to get a punishment, his master could only be happy for so long, Quirell quickly grabbed the boy and set of out of the dungeon.

Quirell walked into the circular room in elegant maroon robes. The turban was gone, the back of his head he proudly showed off to the assembled death eaters. They were arranged along the borders of a room, all circled around the giant cauldron in the center of the room. They all had their plain dark robes and masks on, not knowing what to wear when they were summoned. They were all anxious to see their master return after 11 years of waiting. Quirell proudly approached the cauldron in the center, and watched as the green sickly fluid bubbled in the heat. He reached deep into his robes and took out the stone, and dramatically paused. Then, he dropped it into the cauldron. The fluid changed from a sick color to a golden one, and the cauldron cooled and the fluid stopped bubbling. The death eaters waited in anticipation of what was going to happen next, their eyes following Quirell's every move. Then he bowed and dipped his head into the golden liquid.

His head was under for more than a minute, and some were starting to worry that something had gone wrong. Finally, a bulge started to poke out of the cauldron. It grew bigger and bigger and looked like it was about to burst. Finally, it did. It was a grotesque sight as the bulge finally exploded, with Quirell's brains going all over the floor. All that was left was a man, with pale white skin, standing naked where the bulge had been. Quirell's body was limp and lifeless, his head still underwater. The death eaters took one look at him and bowed.

"Rise."

Harry came to in a dungeon, with his arms strapped over his head to the wall with iron chains. Remembering previous events, he panicked and thrashed against the chains. The only thing he accomplished was cutting into his wrists. How long he hung there, he didn't know. If he listened closely he could here screams in the distance. Sounds of torture, begging, and a soft whimpering. He felt like he was going to be sick. There were no windows in his cell, and the only light was a torch on one wall in his rectangular prison. The door was made of steel, with no knob or anything to grab onto on his side. The walls were filthy and in some spots he could see deep red stains, and it didn't take much imagination to guess what it was.

Miserable thoughts began to fill Harry's mind. He had lost, Voldemort had gotten the stone. How could he have been so stupid? Taking on Quirell by himself… What was he thinking? Now the most feared wizard in the world was going to return and it was all his fault.

What had happened to Ron and Hermione? Would he get to see them again? He hoped so, they had been great friends for the whole year.

But right now, his future wasn't looking so bright.

His brooding thoughts stopped when he heard footsteps coming towards him. The door screeched against the floor as it was opened. A man walked in, if you could call him a man. He had the palest skin Harry had ever seen in his life, and had more snakelike features on his face than human ones. Instead of nostrils, two slits were in the middle of his face. Flat shrubs were there for the ears, and two long cuts with a deep red in the middle were his eyes. If anything, he looked like an albino human.

"Ah, Harry Potter. How nice to see you again. I'm sorry you missed my resurrecting ritual, it was quite phenomenal. I must say the loss of the stone in the process was quite a tragedy, I had real plans for it."

A chill went down Harry's spine. So this was Voldemort. The most feared person in the world was a foot from him.

"What do you want?" His voice came out shaky and small.

"I've come to give you one last chance to join me Potter. We could be great."

"Go to hell, I'll never do your twisted work."

"Fine, same to me."

Voldemort lifted his wand, and Harry knew he was going to die. A bright white light shot out of Voldemort's wand and hit Harry in the head. For the second time in a few days, Harry blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2: He's Back

Redemption

**Chapter 2: He's Back**

A/N Hello Again! I know I said updates once a week but all the hits I got so fast made me want to update as soon as possible. Thanks for all my alert adders and my reviewers. You Guys rock!

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns this, not me.**

Dumbledore walked out of the dungeon with Hermione beside him and Ron floating along behind them. Worries for Harry floated freely through his mind, and he tried to calculate every possible outcome of what could have happened to the boy. Quirell was gone with Voldemort, and Harry was missing. There were scorch marks along the walls of the chamber where the mirror of Erised was kept, but no other signs to indicate a struggle had taken place. He knew that Harry would never join Voldemort, but why would he be missing? The magic protection his mother placed on him should have burned Quirell to death the moment he touched him, or at least after prolonged exposure. He hoped he was all right. He had begun to become rather fond of that young man.

They came to the doors of the hospital wing, and Dumbledore rapped his knuckles three times on the door. After a few seconds, the sound of scuffling could be heard inside and the door opened to revel a stunned madam Pomfrey in her nightgown.

"Dumbledore," she exclaimed, "what are you doing here at nearly three in the morning?"

"I have two injured students and some grave news, Poppy."

She looked over his shoulder, noticing the two students there, and beckoned them inside. She put them both on beds and examined Ron first.

"Will he be ok?" Hermione asked in a worried, quavering voice. She already felt responsible for Harry's disappearance, and didn't want anything to happen to Ron too.

"He will be out for a while and will be in some pain, but he only has a few minor fractures," she said as she finished her examination, "now lets look at you, my dear."

She checked her over, and satisfied that she was going to be all right, healed the few cuts and bruises that she had.

"Now," she said as she turned towards Dumbledore, "What happened? And what do you mean by grave news?"

Dumbledore's face morphed into one of deep sorrow.

"I am sorry to say that a certain mister Harry Potter was either captured by Lord Voldemort or dead."

Madam Pomfrey was shocked, sad, and terrified at the same time. How could he-who-must-not-be-named take that poor boy?

"C-c-captured?" Poppy repeated, "by you-know-who? How is that possible?"

"Voldemort," he said, emphasizing the word, "was apparently residing in our own dear professor Quirell."

"I always knew there was something funny about him… But Albus, what about Harry? We need to go find him!"

"Indeed. First, we must gather the old order members. With the stone, Voldemort will surly return."

Voldemort stood over the boy's body and told his followers to come in.

"Start planting the fake memories in his mind. By the end of today I want him conscience and serving me."

"Of course, my master."

The weaklings. Useful only for the most basic of tasks, but at least they got the job done. Potter will be very good servant indeed. Once they got the memories in of course, as he would be of no use if he was unwilling to serve him. He walked out of the room as the death eaters started to implant the memories with their wands and the pensive with all the false memories Voldemort had made.

He walked slowly back his current throne room, with all the death eaters he passed making deep bows. He walked in the room with his entire inner circle still there. At least they obeyed orders well.

"The boy is getting his memory wiped as we speak," he said to the assembled crowd, "soon he will be as noble and powerful as all of us standing in this room."

Whispering and muttering broke out as he spoke.

"If you have objections, please step forward."

Nobody moved. It would have been suicidal. Nobody disagrees openly with the Dark Lord and lives.

"The boy will not turn on me, the memories I am planting in his head will make him worship me," Voldemort said with a hint of pride, "I will be his idol, his savior, and his tutor. He will be mine."

They were all assembled in the great hall, perhaps 50 people in total.

At the head of the tables sat Albus Dumbledore, leader of the Order of the Phoenix. There was noisy chatting going on around the table, as nobody had any idea what was going on and were wondering why they had been summoned to this meeting. Many people were catching up with old friends, or sharing jokes. Nobody knew the grave circumstances that had brought them here. Finally, Dumbledore thought the meeting should start and loudly cleared his throat. Everybody quieted down.

"Hello everybody," he started in a loud voice, "and welcome to our first official meeting for the new Order of the Phoenix."

He saw quizzical looks in the crowd, as the people obviously didn't know what he was talking about.

"I have some very unfortunate and sad news to share with you all today," people started to look at him with interest so he continued on, "Eighteen hours ago at this time three young students went into the chambers, which held the sorcerers stone, to stop a very evil man from getting it."

In a solemn voice, he said, " They didn't succeed, that man was Lord Voldemort."

Panic broke out. People started talking in hushed tones and everybody had a scarred look on their face.

"But Dumbledore," a man with a magic eye and multiple scars on his face said, "I was under the impression that Voldemort was gone."

"Alastor, it appears that he had taken up residence in professor Quirell's body, and was after the stone to get back a true human form," he explained, "but alas, I have more terrible news that I must share."

Everybody was in anticipation of what he would say next. What could be as serious as Voldemort getting a body again?

"After passing through the challenges in that dungeon, only one student was able to face Quirell. A mister Harry Potter."

Again, more hushed conversations. Dumbledore waited for the conversations to die down and then continued on.

"When I got down there, I found the stone and Voldemort gone and Harry missing."

Silence. You could of heard a feather hit a floor with how quite that hall had gotten.

Alastor stood up again, "He's really back?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Yes, he's back."

**A/N-So how do you like it? Sorry if the POV seems to be jumping around a lot. This is just so you can see what is going on everywhere and will not happen much as the story really kicks off. And would you guys like shorter (1,000 words or so) chapters that I update a lot or longer (2000-3000) ones that I don't update as often? Leave the answer in your review. The next chapter will be up by Friday. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3: Awakening

Redemption

Chapter 3: Awakening

A/N- well here is the third chapter. It will be entirely from Harry's POV. I tried to make it a little longer. Hope you guys like it! BTW bolded italics will be flashbacks from now on.

**Disclaimer- J.K. Rowling owns this, not me.**

When Harry woke up, he was lying in a four-poster bed with green coverings and pillows with a symbol of a snake on it. The rest of the room was decorated in a similar fashion. Beside his bed was a polished wooden stand with his glasses and wand. He put on his glasses and examined the rest of his quarters. The room was shaped like a large square and there were three doors leading out of the room. He got out of the bed and approached the one on his left and slowly opened it. Inside was the biggest bathroom he had ever seen in his life. The bath alone had to be at least ten yards long. There was several sinks set along one part of the wall with a large mirror hanging above them. He examined himself. He had short and stiff blond hair that barely reached the middle of his forehead. What he couldn't stop staring at, however, were his eyes. They were a dazzling shade of green, almost emerald, in an almond shape. There were no other distinctive marks on his head. _Who am I?_ He thought to himself. He couldn't remember anything other than he was a wizard. _Well I might as well look around._

He proceeded out of the bathroom and made his way over to the other door in the room. He opened it to reveal his own personal training room. It had target dummies, large bookcases, and in the center of the floor was a dueling platform. He made his way over to the bookshelf and proceeded to look over some of the titles. _The Dark Arts and Their Uses, Curses to Remember, _and_ Enemies worst fear_ were just a few. Again, he wondered why he was here. Going to find somebody sounded like a good idea, so he backed out of the training room. He took the last door and walked into a stone hall that had torches set up along the walls for light. From the many windows he could see that it was night. He looked out and saw a large forest surrounding what appeared to be a large castle made with black stones. In the darkness, you could barely see the dark arches and towers. He moved on to stairwell at the end of the hall and started moving down.

After going down a few steps and onto the floor below his room he ran into a person going the other way. The figure had a scary-looking mask on and black robes to match.

"Ah, master Harry, I was just about to go wake you," it was a woman's voice.

Harry. So that was his name.

"Where am I?" Harry asked bluntly.

"Oh yes, your master warned me that you might have had some head trauma. You got hit with a nasty spell in training by accident, and it might take some time for your memories to recover."

A dazed expression went on Harry's face.

Training.

_He was sitting in one of the chairs in the main dueling room, watching two of his masters most powerful death eater's duel over the rights to a captured woman they both wanted. He himself was looking at a book; studying a new curse his teacher wanted him to learn. It was a boring one, and didn't do much damage but his teacher said the mechanics in this spell were the same as some of the most powerful ones, so it was important to master. Nonetheless, he soon became bored and started watching the death eaters in their heated battle. They were using spells he had never even heard of before, so he took mental notes and started studying the techniques involved, as he was good at doing that and used it often. You'd be surprised what you can learn simply by watching others. They were both starting to pick up speed in their attacks, and their accuracy was suffering horribly. Losing interest, Harry flipped a page in his book just as he heard a rapid "Watch out!" He didn't even look up._

"Master Harry, are you all right?" the person opposite him said, shaking him.

"Yes I am fine, thank you," he replied. Well at least he knew why he didn't remember anything now.

"How long have I been unconscious?" he asked.

"As far as I know, about three hours," the lady replied, "your master wishes to see you now that you are conscious, so please follow me."

So he followed her back to the stairwell and down about three flights of stairs before stepping into a very large hallway. They proceeded to a large chamber with a grand flight of stairs in the center, with beautiful Chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. They went up they stairs and took the center one of three doors. Inside there was what appeared to be an albino man sitting on a throne, talking to his death eaters, apparently in a meeting. The woman approached the man and bowed deeply.

"He is awake, my lord."

"Thank you Bellatrix, you can take your spot now."

Bellatrix moved into place among the death eaters in the crowd. The albino man looked at him with interest.

"Its nice of you to finally join us, my son."

So this was his father and master.

Suddenly, he had another flashback.

_**He was young, perhaps five years old. He was flying around on a toy broomstick and was laughing joyously. Not for the first time, he wished his father could be here. He wondered where he was. He had never actually seen him, just heard about how great he was. Maybe he should go ask his nanny about him. He got of his broom and towards his kind, gentle nanny. **_

"_**Nan-Nan, why doesn't my father ever come?" he asked.**_

"_**Do you really want to know?" his nanny, Nacrissa Malfoy asked.**_

_**He nodded eagerly and she sighed.**_

"_**Very well. Remember that bad man I was talking to you about, Dumbledore?" she asked**_

_**He nodded again, so she continued, "Well one day two of his followers were causing trouble. Your father went after them to stop them, and after he killed them, a very bad boy, Harry Potter, somehow made your father disappear."**_

"_**So my daddy's dead?" he asked with sadness and disappointment. **_

"_**No, gone, but not dead."**_

_**With those words, Harry promised himself he would make the Potter boy pay for hurting his father.**_

__He came back to his senses with his father looking at him expectantly.

"Hello father. It is good to see you are back." He was indeed happy to see his father for the first time, but he got this weird feeling by calling this man his father. It just didn't feel right for some reason.

"It is nice to finally see you, my son." His father said.__

"Is there a reason you have summoned me?" Harry was curious to see what his father wanted him to do.

"I am making you aware of some changes that will be taking place. You will no longer be taught by a teacher, as I will teach you myself. Also, you are to move your things into the Master bedroom in the Northwestern Tower. It will be much more comfortable in there."

"Thank you," he replied, remembering the huge size of the room he woke up in, and he wondered how they could get any better.

"Also, I have come to let you do something I heard you have wanted to do for a very long time." He responded.

"What would that be?"

"I recently heard you had vowed to take revenge on Potter for making me disappear. Is that true?"

"Yes. It would please me greatly to punish him."

"Well then you are getting a wish granted tonight." With those words he turned to a follower that was standing next to him and muttered a few words into his ear. The servant walked out of the room.

When the servant came back, he was dragging a struggling young man along with him. A gag was in the kid's mouth and his eyes were wide with fear. He was dragged to the center of the room and was left there with magical binds holding him down. He struggled pointlessly against them.

"Meet Harry Potter, my son."

Harry Potter had long, untamed black hair and a long, lightning shaped scar on his forehead. What really got his attention though were his eyes. They were almost exactly like his. How odd.

"Now, I am sure your teacher taught you the killing curse."

Harry paused for a second, trying to remember the lessons he had, and nodded.

"Well, lets see you use it," his father said with amusement in his voice.

Harry slowly raised his wand. A good part of his mind said this was wrong. He couldn't imagine killing somebody. But a greater part of his mind said that this person was the reason he had grown up without his great and powerful father there to guide him. After a short battle in his mind, he mustered all the hatred for this person he felt, and let it out in two short words.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry Potter dropped to the ground, dead.

Voldemort smirked, "Well done."

**A/N- So how was it? Good so far? The next chapter will skip ahead five years into the future, and that's where our story really kicks off. And yes, he will meet Ginny in the next 2-3 chapters, but don't expect love at first sight. The next chapter will be up by Sunday. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4: Four years later

**Redemption**

**Chapter 4: five years later**

**A/N- Chapter four. Here is where the plot really starts to kick up. Enjoy and don't forget to review!**

**Disclaimer- J.K. is the boss here, not me.**

Harry was quickly becoming bored, again. His masters meetings (he still didn't feel quite right calling him father) always did this to him. Mostly it was the same boring routine. Talk about meaningless things for the first hour, discuss the latest order of the Phoenix operations, and make plains for raids. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he would get a captured victim to torture for information. Still, that was if he was lucky and didn't happen very often. He would never dare skip a meeting, he would get punished severely for that, but he could always dream. Right now they were talking about how they could possibly take over Hogwarts. It was an important spot to hold, so they had let in the death eater's children who attended the school to see what they had to say.

"We need to find an underground passage, as they have magical barriers around the grounds and security aurors patrolling the building." Lucius's son, Draco he believed it was, said. The idiot. As if they hadn't already known that. He probably would have had the honor of being a death eater by now if he wasn't so stupid and cocky. Then again, most of his master's death eaters were like that, so he would fit right in. He smiled while thinking that. As his master always said, they were idiots and could only be trusted with the most basic of tasks.

"But have you found any secret entrances that are not guarded, Draco?" Voldemort said in a condescending tone. He was obviously thinking the same thing that Harry was.

Draco visually deflated. "No, my lord. We will continue our search in the coming year though."

"No, you won't."

"My lord?" he looked plainly confused.

"You and your classmates have failed to find a way in after three years. You are obviously not suited to do this task."

Draco, looking defeated, said, "Yes master."

"I will find a more suitable replacement. One that I know will not fail."

As he said it, he looked up at Harry and continued, "Harry, you are ready for your first mission. Meet me in my quarters in an hour so we can discuss the details."

He then turned to his followers and said, "Meeting adjourned."

An hour later, Harry was walking towards his master's quarters, still shocked. He would be going to Hogwarts. Why would his master want him there? Well, Hogwarts is the main gathering place for mud bloods and blood traitors. It would save a lot of time and effort to just take them all out at once. Furthermore, if they controlled the school, the controlled the future of all the wizards there. It was obvious, now that he thought about it, why his master would want him, not some weakling death eater, to go on this important mission. He walked into his master's quarters. Of course it was the grandest room in the whole castle. The roof wasn't even visible. The room was decorated with only silver and green to symbolize his master being the heir of Slytherin.

"Harry, I am sure you realize the importance of this mission?"

Harry nodded.

"Then you know that failure is unacceptable. Now, the details," Voldemort started explaining, "you will take the train at Kings Cross Station like every other student. Your name will be Harold Bolgum. You used to be home schooled by you parents because you traveled a lot before I killed them during the summer," he paused in case Harry had any questions, then continued, "I have contacts that have set up letters to Dumbledore about what happened to your parents so that he will accept you. Now, I want you to try to gain the trust of the blood traitors and mud bloods. The other reason I am sending you is that you are a new face whose parents were killed by me, so they will trust you. If anybody would know anything about the secret passageways or any other way to get into the school, it would be them. Are there any questions?"

Harry shook his head.

"Good, now go get packed. The train leaves in two weeks."

He looked around his room, satisfied that he had all he wanted to bring. He shut his trunk and pick up his wand. He didn't have his glasses anymore, as his master saw it as a burden for combat and had his eyesight fixed. He looked one more time with a little bit of sadness. He was going to miss this place. Not to mention he was probably going to get stupider just by going there. He had taken a look at the curriculum in advance and found that he had learned all this stuff three years ago. It was going to be boring going there. But his master needed him there, and he was not going to let him down. Sighing, he started walking towards the main entrance. He would be side-along apparated there with a little know death eater. He could already do it by himself, of course, but it would draw attention from the aurors and that was something he didn't need. Taking a cautious glance at the woman, he grabbed her arm and felt the familiar sensation of being forced down a small tube. They appeared right outside the train, and true to her training, the lady reached down and gave him a peck on the cheek. Standing up, she said a quick "Have fun" and disappeared.

He took his trunk onto the train, and started looking for a compartment to sit in. He finally found one that wasn't full, and it was a stroke of luck. Looking in, he saw the obvious signs of two Weasleys, who were very unpopular with the death eaters. If he was going to gain the trust of blood traitors, he might as well start here. He opened the compartment door.

"Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full." He said it with an air of nervousness, which was perfect for the situation, if he thought so himself. After all, a new student wouldn't be so confident.

"Sure, I can't see why not," came the response from a brown bushy-haired girl. She had large front teeth and you got the impression that you would find he in the library most of the time

"Thanks," he said, smiling uneasily. He sat down next to a female Weasly. She was very pretty, bordering on beautiful. She had long, fiery, and smooth red hair that flowed down to the middle of her back. The freckles across her nose that matched perfectly with her chocolate brown eyes, and she had a warm and welcoming smile. To bad she was a blood traitor.

For the first time, he didn't have to fake being uncertain when he said, "Hello".

"Hi, I'm Ginny Weasly. I haven't seen you around before. Are you new here?"

He nodded. "Yes. I used to be home schooled because I traveled a lot before my parents died this summer." He said, sadness laced into his tone.

Ginny's simile faltered. "I'm sorry. Do you mind if I asked how?" The whole compartment seemed to want to know.

Harry shook his head, "No. The answer is becoming more common anyways."

Realization dawned on their faces. "Voldemort?" she guessed.

He just nodded while looking at the floor and, using years of practice, brought a tear to his eye. It really was worthwhile to learn how to do that.

She put an arm around his shoulders and gently squeezed.

"So what's your name?" the other Weasly across from him asked. He was very tall, and his red hair was cut short. He too had freckles.

"Harold Bolgum, but I always thought that was too formal so please just call me Harry."

Everybody visibly tensed up at this.

He looked around, "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

Nobody responded for a few seconds, and it was Ginny that finally answered.

"You heard what happened to Harry Potter, didn't you?"

"Of course." He was the one that killed him after all.

"Well Ron and Hermione here," she said, gesturing to the two across from them, "were very close friends with him."

Harry actually felt something close to real sadness for a second.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you can call me Harold if it would make you feel more comfortable."

"No Harry, it's fine," Hermione said, giving him a small sad smile, "it was just a little bit of a shock for us, especially when you have eyes that are so much like his."

"Ok, if your sure."

"So who takes care of you?" Ginny asked.

"I stayed with my aunt this summer but they are moving to America and can't take me with them, so I have to figure something out by the end of the school year."

"You should talk to Dumbledore, he would figure something out."

"Thanks Ginny, I'll talk to him once we get there."

"Well we better start our prefect duties Ron," Hermione said while standing up.

"Fine," Ron looked like he really cared less about patrolling halls, but got up anyway.

"Hermione, you know that the kids just beat each other up when were not looking."

"They do not!" she looked disgusted at the though of violence between younger kids.

Ron snorted, "I don't know what you see."

They got up and walked towards the door, still arguing. After they were gone, Harry turned to Ginny.

"Do they always fight like that?"

Ginny laughed and nodded.

"It's just because they like each other. Everybody but them notices it. You should ask them about it sometime, they always get really embarrassed and deny it." she was smirking now.

"I say we lock them in a closet until they kiss."

She smiled, "Sounds like a good idea, but I think I got a better one".

For a while they just talked about their lives and how to get Ron and Hermione together. He supplied the false information about his life of course. He found out a variety of information that would be good for being a friend, but nothing about the castle, or how to get in quietly. After a few hours, Ron and Hermione came back in. They were having a row of course. They stopped when they sat down though.

"So what year are you going into Harry?" Hermione asked him.

"Sixth, what about you?"

"Were all going into sixth year too."  
"Ginny's actually skipped a year," Ron said with some pride. He obviously was proud of his little sister.

Harry turned to her, "You did?"

She nodded, "Yep, I skipped my second year because I got perfect marks. Hermione could skip one too, she just doesn't want to leave Ron."

Hermione blushed and quickly tried to change the subject.

"We are getting close. Lets change into our school cloths" It was getting dark. The boys did the courteous thing and went to find a bathroom while the girls stayed in the compartment."

After the train pulled in the station, they slowly got off the train and made their way to one of the many carriages that were pulled by what looked like undead horses with wings. Thestrals, he believed they were called. They stepped into a carriage with two people in it.

"Hello Luna, Neville. Have a good summer?"

A girl with misty blue eyes and long blond hair responded, "Yes. I went hunting for Nargwaggles this summer."

"Sounds like fun," Ginny said because Hermione looked like she was going to say something rude, "how about you Neville?"

"It was ok, Gran let me get some interesting new plants," he had a sad voice, "who's with you?"

"I'm Harold Bolgum, but please call me Harry," he said, extending a hand. Neville took it and shook.

"Nice to meet you, Harry."

They spent the rest of the way catching up on what had happened during their summers. Harry was really starting to get sick of being polite to all of these blood traitors and mud bloods. Finally, the school came into sight. It truly was a grand place. About twice the size of his master's castle, once captured it would make a great headquarters. They stepped out of the carriages and approached the front doors. As they walked inside, a stern looking old professor approached him.

"Mister Bolgum, will you please follow me to get sorted."

Well, he was here.

**A/N- Well, its defiantly longer than the other chapters. Happy now xXxHadesInkspellxXx? **

**It was really hard for me to write this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I can't promise when the next chapter will get written, but it will be up around Monday. Review please! **


	5. Chapter 5: Sorting Tricks

Redemption

**Chapter 5: Sorting Tricks**

A/N- Sorry for the long delay, but I had a wrestling camp this week and was exhausted. If you're ever wondering when my next chapter will be up or why my update hasn't come in a while, it will be on my profile page. Thanks for reading and as always, review!

**Disclaimer- J.K. Rowling owns this**

Harry followed the stern old professor through a few corridors. She didn't talk at all and Harry was glad, as he was almost sure all the words that came out of her mouth were critical. They arrived near a group of what appeared to be first years.

"Go to the back of the line and your name will be called last." She then walked away, not paying him any attention. He proceeded to the back of the line. He had a strange sense of déjà vu as she gave a short speech about the houses and how the house cup would work. He didn't care about the sorting; as he already knew what house he would be going in. However, it would be quite difficult to gain the trust of the blood traitors if he was in Slytherin. Maybe it was a good time to use the occulemcy his master made him learn.

It had taken a lot of long and tedious practices, but he had finally gotten it, and now he could deny even a master legilimans access to his mind. He had also mastered the tricky art of making false memories. That would prove invaluable in tricking the sorting hat, but he was unsure if occulemcy would even work on the sorting hat. It was his only option though, so he would just have to try. While the professor was rambling on, he quickly made multiple memories, sealing off his real ones behind a steel wall in his mind. He showed himself being a brave person, but kind and gentle. It would be perfect for Gryffindor, but he almost chuckled at the thought of him being kind to people like them. He arranged the memories of his parents dieing, and all the major events in his false life that his master had told him about. His master didn't need to write them down, as he had trained Harry to have a perfect memory. Another skill that became invaluable over the years.

He finished making his "life" as followed the other students into the great hall. He had to admit, the ceiling was pretty dang impressive. With the ceiling showing the outside sky, it was a breathtaking sight. He watched in boredom as the first years were sorted. Why couldn't they have sorted him first? The line grew thinner and thinner and finally he was the only one left. Dumbledore rose from his chair and, with his spoon, tapped on his goblet three times.

"We have a very special case today," the old fool, Dumbledore, said, "A new student whose parents were unfortunately killed this summer. We would like you to give a warm welcome to Mr. Harold Bolgum, who will be starting in the sixth year."

Polite applause rang throughout the hall. The stern professor beckoned him up to the platform. He put up his mental barriers and approached the stool. He sat, feeling rather uncomfortable as the chair was too low for him. The sorting hat was placed on his head, and he heard a deep, slow voice in his head.

"Well well well, nice to see you again." Again? What was the hat talking about? "What are you doing here? Never mind, it doesn't matter. I guess I better sort you in the same spot, but I stand by my decision that Slytherin would have done you good."

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hats voice boomed out for everybody to hear. The hat was removed from his head and he headed in the direction of the clapping Gryffindors.

He sat in the empty spot next to Ginny, with Ron and Hermione opposite them. He was very confused. He couldn't think of any reason the sorting hat would have known who he was. No reason at all. He finally dismissed the thought, not being able to think of any reasons, when Ron started talking.

"I hope the food comes out soon, I'm starving." He grabbed at his stomach as to prove his point.

Hermione let out an aspirated sigh, "Ron, is food the only thing you ever think about?"

Ron smirked, "Maybe."

"Do you know how hard the house elves work to give you that food?"

Now it was Ron's turn to sigh.

"Hermione, for the last time, they enjoy it!"

Harry turned away from them to Ginny, once it became apparent that another row was about to begin.

"So, when do our classes start?"

"They hand out our timetables tomorrow. What classes did you sign up for?"

"Defense against the dark arts, Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms." He didn't even have to strain to remember. Having a perfect memory was awesome.

Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Looking to be an auror?"

Like he would ever help them against his master. "Ya." He clenched his fists and looked down. "After what happened to my parents," he stared up into her eyes, "I want payback."

She nodded.

"I know what you mean. My brother was nearly killed in a death eater raid. Greyback, the werewolf, attacked him."

Greyback. Harry had to prevent himself from smiling. He had always thought he was amusing. Werewolves were rather pathetic, once you knew how to beat them, and they only transformed once a month, which limited their effectiveness is war. Before he had left, he had heard that his master was making some progress in forcing the transformation though.

"Is he now a, you know…"

"No, thank god."

"Is there any permanent damage?

Whatever she was about to say next was cut off by the food appearing at the tables.

"Finally!" Ron said as he started to pile food on his plate.

Hermione just rolled her eyes. Harry looked around at the different options of food and finally settled on mashed potatoes and chicken.

Ron stared at him with open disbelief, a little bit of chicken hanging on his lip.

"That's all your going to get?"

"Just because you make it a personal goal to eat as much food as you can doesn't mean everybody does Ron." Hermione said, saving him from having to answer. Which was good, as he didn't know what he would say, because he was frankly disgusted by this boys behavior. Over the years, he had begun because to expect everybody to use proper manners, just like the way he had been taught.

The meal progressed with only two more arguments breaking out between Ron and Hermione. He already knew that they were going to drive him crazy, and this was his first day. He cut off the discussion he was having with Ron about the school layout when Dumbledore stood up. Damn. He had actually gotten close to maybe finding a passage.

"A few last minute announcements before bed are in order." His gaze sweep the room.

"To all first years, and as a reminder to all older students, the forbidden forest is out of bounds. Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has added approximately fifty items to the list of banned possessions. The full list is posted on his office door in the dungeons. Now, I can see a few weary faces, so it time for lights out. Prefects will escort first years to the dormitories. You are dismissed."

Almost like a unit, the great hall got on their feet and made their way to the doors. The prefects got there first and started shouting.

"Ravenclaw! Ravenclaw first years over here!"

"Slytherin first years this way!"

Ron and Hermione had to go lead some first years, so Harry and Ginny walked up to the Gryffindor common room. After a few minutes of talking about random things, he started probing.

"So why aren't you a prefect?' if she was a troublemaker, she would probably know this castle inside out.

She smirked, "Lets just say I made sure professor Dumbledore didn't pick me. Though I'm sure he wanted to."  
Jackpot. "What did you do?"

She giggled. "I made his voice an octave higher, gave him breasts, and made his hair bright pink, on the day the minister of magic came to visit."

Harry was actually impressed. "Did you use a potion?"

"Yes, the house elves slipped it into his morning pumpkin juice. They really like to pull the occasional prank."

They had arrived by a picture of a fat lady by this point, and Ginny turned to it.

"Billowing."

The portrait opened and they walked in. It was a large room, with a few tables and a fireplace, with several comfortable looking chairs and couches around it. Various people were around the room talking. The room was decorated in the traditional Gryffindor colors of red and gold. Ron and Hermione were not there yet, and they were both tired so they decided to call it a night. She walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitories and he went up to the boys. He walked in the door marked sixth years, and went over to his bed. Fortunately, he was the only one here. He got a quill and some ink out of his luggage, sat on his bed, and pulled a small gray book out of his robes. He opened the first page. The date and time was scribbled at the top left corner. It was ten fifty. He was late. Great. He quickly wrote on the page, "master."

"Your late." Came the quick response.

"I apologize, I couldn't get away sooner."  
"No matter, have you made any progress?"

"I have gained the trust of two Weasleys and a mud blood."

"Even with you being a Slytherin?"

Harry thought for a second.

"I used my occulemcy to trick the sorting hat. I made a false identity to get sorted into Gryffindor."

"That is very good, but have you found anything yet?"

"No, nothing yet."

There was a slight pause.

"That is acceptable. You have made great progress so far. The Weasleys will know something."

"When should I contact you next?"

"Every Sunday at midnight. Go through great lengths to not get caught."  
"Of course."

The page was wiped blank. Harry put everything back, lay down, and went into deep meditation in seconds. He didn't sleep. He had been taught that he should always be able to move at a moment's notice, if there was a need to. This was his way of sorting his memories and observing the world around him from the safety of his own mind. A trick that he had found extremely useful was he could review lessons or books in his mind, thanks to his perfect memory, and practice them. That is what he did now, reviewing his masters lessons as his fellow sixth years came in and went to sleep. Day one was done.


	6. Chapter 6: Making a name

Redemption

**Chapter Six: Making a name**

_A/N: Well I bet you guys didn't see this chapter , I'm NOT dead! This story would not go out of my mind, so I decided to write a new chapter. I hope you enjoy it. _

Harry rose from his meditative trance once the first boy had woken up and groggily proceeded to the shower. Neville, if he recalled correctly. Harry deliberately started to make noise, until he noticed the time, 4:30am.

"What is he doing up this early?" Harry mumbled to himself. Deciding to keep a closer eye on this one, he lay down and waited for Neville to finish. Neville didn't take long, and it was obvious he was trying to keep quite as he slipped back into the room. After checking his watch, he hastily threw on some cloths, still trying but rather failing at being quite. Looking at himself in a mirror, he appeared to think that he looked decent enough and walked out of the room. Harry let him go. It was nothing to worry about unless he started to do this often. He then calmly reviewed advanced transfiguration techniques in the safety of his mind while the other boys slept.

Right as the sun was peeking over the horizon, Neville came back in. He seemed to have an extra spring in his step, but his face showed the expression of a worried man. If Harry listened intently he could just make out the sound of mumbling. Not wanting to startle him, Harry waited a few minutes before starting to stir. Neville was just putting on his school robes, and almost visibly jumped when Harry said a muffled 'Good morning'.

"Oh, um, good morning!" he replied stuttering.

Harry rolled off the bed and proceeded to the bathroom. "I hope you didn't use all the hot water."

Neville gave a little laugh, "We can't run out of hot water, or Ron would have wasted it all."

"Spend a lot of time in the shower, does he?" It honestly didn't surprise him, with how disgusting Ron was and all. Harry knew he was lazy from the minute he saw him.

"Yes, but he gets up last, so no worries!"

"Well that's a good thing, its Neville right?" Bellatrix tortured his parents into insanity, so he would have a major grudge against Death Eater, and make a good source of information.

"Yep, that's me."

"When do we get our timetables?"

"Today at breakfast."

More people woke up, and the conversation died out to the sounds of utter chaos. Harry could hear fighting over the line to get into the shower next. _Like they will stay clean for ten minutes anyway. _Harry got out and cast cleaning charms on himself. He only needed the shower for appearances, after all. He walked out with a towel around his waist, and was nearly knocked over in the resulting commotion. Grabbing hold of a post for support, he waited for it to die down. After several moments, in which two of them ended up on the floor, Ron won the rights to go next, slamming the door behind him. The other boys groaned, knowing they were going to be late to breakfast. Harry, ignoring them, went back to his bed and started to put on some cloths.

When he was finished, Harry walked down to the common room. As he walked down the steps, two girls looked up at him. They both looked to be about his age, and he realized they were probably waiting for the boys that were still fighting over the shower order. One of them, a tall girl with dark skin and hair, walked towards him.

"What's taking them so long?" she inquired, "Seamus was supposed to walk me down to breakfast!"

Harry raised an eyebrow, "You should start walking, or you might be waiting for a while."

She sighed, "Ron got it first, didn't he." She didn't sound too shocked.

Harry just nodded. Apparently Ron had quite a reputation about his hygiene habits.

She just shook her head in utter hopelessness. "Well Seamus is going to have to walk by himself; I want to get my timetable. Thanks though."

Harry waved a hand, brushing it off. "It was nothing."

A wrinkle of thought passed on her brow, and she frowned for a second. "What's your name? I saw you at the sorting, of course, but I just can't match a name to your face. I'm Parvati, and that's Lavender," she said gesturing behind her. Lavender raised a hand, and Harry responded equally.

"I'm Harold, but please call me Harry."

Parvati glanced, almost instinctively, at his forehead for a fraction of a second, before casting her eyes back into his. "Well, nice to meet you Harry, we'll see you around." With that she motioned to Lavender and they walked out of the portrait hole.

Right as the portrait swung shut, somebody came running like a madman down the steps, shouting, "I'm here! Parvati! Lavender! Dam." Harry assumed this was Seamus. "Did they already come down?" Seamus asked him.

"You just missed them."

Seamus cursed, "Last time I let Ron in the shower first, next time he'll have to go over my dead body! Catch you later!" he rushed out of the room after the girls. Not wanting to be late, Harry started jogging behind him.

After navigating his way through the confusing corridors, Harry made his way to the great hall. Looking around, he found Hermione, Ginny, and Neville. He spared a glance at the Slytherin table and allowed himself to feel a little jealousy. Why he was sorted into Gryffindor, he didn't really know, but he didn't like it. Unfortunately, it was probably best for his mission. Having the trust of people who were relatives to members of the Order of the Phoenix was very important. Most Slytherins were idiots, but he would rather be around idiot purebloods, who had some respect, than mudbloods, any day. Swallowing his pride, he made his way to the group. While he was walking, Ron caught up with him. Harry tried to not act repulsed.

"Good morning Harry."

"Morning Ron. Have a nice shower?" It took him long enough.

"Yes, very nice. I didn't have to go last today, so I'm not too late to breakfast. This might be the first day Hermione doesn't yell at me for being late." He looked positively ecstatic about the idea.

Harry just shook his head and kept on walking. He took a seat next to Ginny, with Ron opposite him. Ron immediately stuffed his plate again, and Harry had to resist the urge to curse him to instill some manners in that head, just like the way he was taught.

"Well you're here early today." Hermione said to Ron, actually surprised. She then looked at Harry, "What have you done to him?"

Before Harry could answer, Ron cried out, his mouth still full of food, "Hey! I got here by myself thank you; Dean just always gets the damn shower first!" He spit some bacon on Hermione, and this time Harry shot a little stinging curse under the table. Ron yelped, food spilling out of his mouth, and started rubbing his leg furiously. Ginny tried to hide her smile and whispered to Harry, "Good one." Hermione, meanwhile, was nearly shouting at Ron about his manners. Barely nodding, Harry whispered back, "Does he do this all the time?"

Ginny sighed, "You'll get used to it."

Shaking his head, Harry responded, "No. He'll get used to his legs being stung unless he shapes up."

Ginny just smiled.

The same old professor that led him to his sorting came around, with a stack of papers in her hand. One look from her was enough to stop Hermione and Ron's arguing. Pulling the appropriate papers out of the stack, she laid them down in front of them. As she gave Harry his, she looked them over and nodded.

"Auror classes, Mr. Bolgum. I am anxious to see how you do." She then walked away towards the next group of students. Ron picked his head up from his food at her words.

"You're doing Auror training too?"

Harry nodded solemnly. "I want to do something to fight what happened to my parents." The others nodded in understanding.

"We are all doing it to help in the war."

So they are going into the order too. It looks like this Gryffindor thing might work out after all. Probing about the order was not the smartest move right now; as they did not know him well enough yet to tell him anything about it if he asked. Now was the time to start digging the well into the spring.

"Potions was hard to pass, the OWL said I had to get an outstanding! Who made that crazy rule?"

Ron grimaced, "Snape, the potions professor. That's him right there, the greasy git." He motioned towards the end of the long table at the front of the hall. Harry looked, but he already knew what Snape looked like, seeing as he was a high ranking member of the death eaters.

"Ronald, he is a professor!" this looked like it was going to turn into another row, and Harry was already on the edge, so he quickly got their attention.

"Looks like we have transfiguration first, who teaches that?"

"McGonagall, the lady that just gave up our timetable." From the way she talked, Hermione seemed to respect her greatly.

"The one that frowns all the time?"

Ron snorted, "That's a good way to put it. She's not nearly as bad as she looks though."

Hermione checked he watch and stood up, picking up her bag that was next to her. "Speaking of that, we better get going. We don't want to be late on the first day."

Ginny stood up with her, but Ron proved a little more hesitant to move. "But I'm not finished!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Ron, you've had four plates already!"

Before Ron could protest again, Harry sent another discreet stinging hex at him. Ron practically jumped to his feet.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

"Language Ronald!" Harry shot another hex.

"Alright I'm going!" Harry let a laugh, a true laugh, out.

When they were all seated, Harry looked around. This class was a Ravenclaw-Gryffindor mix, and there were about 14 people in the class. Transfiguration was required for a lot of careers, so the high class size was to be expected. He wondered if the Ravenclaws' had any relations to the order, but he doubted it. He would keep his eyes open though.

"Welcome, students, to advanced transfiguration. This year we will be studying conjuration and advanced transfiguring of objects. Today, we will be reviewing and practice conjuring minor objects. Does anybody know what conjuration is?"

Hermione's hand went up first. "Yes Miss Granger?"

"Conjuration is a branch of Transfiguration in which an object or an animal is transfigured from 'thin air'. According to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, food cannot be conjured, however, life can." My god, she was a living textbook.

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor." Hermione put her hand down, pleased.

"Now, before we can practice conjuration the witch or wizard must be very skilled at basic transfiguration. There is a cup on each of your desks. I would like you to turn this into a crown. You have three minutes."

Many incantations could be heard around the room, and Harry was annoyed by the noise. He couldn't wait until they learned silent magic so that the classrooms would quite down while they were practicing. He, on the other hand, merely waved his hand in front of the goblet and it changed. Ginny gasped from beside him, "How did you do that?"

Harry winked and said, "My little secret." Showing off would be fun this year.

Ginny puffed, and went back to changing her goblet. She still managed it quite easily, but he could tell she was dying to know how he did it. _Good, now I got a bargaining chip. _He could ask for something in return for teaching her, and information is power here. The class didn't take nearly three minutes, more like 30 seconds, but if they couldn't handle something as simple as this in three minutes, they should get kicked out. Ron actually had to ask Hermione for help on this, and how he passed first year, Harry didn't know. Of all people he had to be stuck with an idiot. He had learned this when he was 8, and it was a breeze even then. He hid his impatience, however, as McGonagall spoke again.

"Very good, now into a rabbit. Begin."

The rest of the class went in this manner, and Harry came dangerously close to sleeping a few times, until Ginny (quite ironically) cast a stinging hex at him. That kept him awake the rest of the day. He didn't have any more fancy showings, but Ginny kept a close eye on him after his little 'demonstration'. They never even got to conjuration, to Hermione's immense disappointment. She complained about it all the way to their next class, potions. This one was certainly going to be interesting, as Harry was (for lack of a better word) excited to see how Snape would handle his presence. As a person he was held under unbreakable vow never to speak of, Snape would have to get creative on how he was going to talk about Harry to the other teachers. The last thing he wanted was for Snape to treat him different from any other Gryffindor, as that would raise suspicion.

"Settle down, settle down," Snape drawled on, "now is the time for business. After all we wouldn't want our new student thinking this was some easy class, would we?" as he spoke, he tilted his head slightly at Harry, asking a silent question that they both understood. _"What do I do? Do I treat you different? Or do you want crap from me?_ Harry shook his head ever so slightly.

"I've heard this class is very good, professor."

"So not only naive, but a suck-up as well. Keep your complements to yourself, they will do you no good in here." Harry had to give him credit; he was a better actor than he originally thought.

"Now before this class becomes a session of pointless talk, let us do something useful, shall we?" he turned towards the board and started scribbling furiously, "turn to page 214 in your books, it is your assignment for the day, incomplete work is a zero, NO exceptions." Slamming the chalk down, he looked at his work. The board was now full of directions for a very powerful sleep potion, one that was not even supposed to be covered until year seven. Harry had to suppress a laugh. He wondered how much fun Snape had had over the years. Hermione, sitting in front of Ginny and himself, raised her hand. _Well there are always the spoilsports._

"What is it this time, Granger?"

"Sir, this potion isn't even covered until next year, we-"

"I am the teacher here, and I will decide what you learn and when. Ten points from Gryffindor; now turn to page 214."

Ron looked like he was about to say something, but a quick glare from Hermione made him wilt. Harry got out his necessary ingredients, not even looking in his book. Another spell his Master had made him learn when he was young. After heating his cauldron, he started slicing the rat tails, squeezing them between two knives to get the juice out. Ginny taped him on the shoulder, "Why are you doing that? It says here to put them in the cauldron."

Harry forced down another wave of impatience and tried to act nice. Forcing a smile, he said, "You only need the juice, and this produces much more, and makes the potion stronger."

"So now you're a wiz at potions too? I guess I'll have to be your partner all year to hear more of your 'tips'."

Well he could do worse; at least she was pretty, and he bet she knew anything and everything about the secret passages of Hogwarts. "If you're lucky, I'll tell you some of them."

"Bolgum, I do not tolerate talking in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."

After that Harry started whispering advice to Ginny, and their potions turned out the best at the end. Snape was suspicious however, and deducted them ten points for 'cheating'. Ron wanted to know how their potions looked so good, and kept bothering them on the way to lunch. Thankfully, his stomach let out a large growl, and his only concern was getting food as fast as possible. As they were eating, or stuffing themselves in Ron's case, they made small talk about their classes. Hermione was actually very interested in how they did so well, as hers turned out with a strong manure scent, while theirs smelled like mint, which it was supposed to do.

Ginny just held up her hands, "Harry did it all, I just took his advice."

He was instantly bombarded with questions by Ron and Hermione, and he gave a 'thankful' glance to Ginny, who responded with an innocent smile.

"I just have a lot of experience with potions. You pick up on things here and there." That stopped their questions, but he could tell they were still not satisfied. They had the rest of the day off, so they debated on what to do next.

It was Ginny who suggested the best idea, "Why don't we go to the lake? Harry hasn't seen the squid yet!"

It was agreed upon that Harry had not seen anything if he had not seen the squid, so they made their way through the Hogwarts grounds. Stopping on the banks, they sat down under a tree and started talking while waiting for the squid to make an appearance. After half an hour, the squid still had not shown up. Harry, deciding enough was enough, made his own plans. Standing up, he started making his way toward the water.

"Oi! What are you doing?" Ron exclaimed.

"I'm going to get the squid." He cast a bubble head charm on himself, and slipped into the water.

Ron turned to Hermione, "Did I hear that right? He's going to get the squid? "

Hermione laughed. "Yes you heard him right; now let's watch what he's going to do!"

They waited, Hermione and Ron doubting that he was going to do anything, but after all that Ginny had seen today she was not sure. A minute passed, and it seemed like nothing was going to happen, when all the sudden a tentacle burst out of the water, flailing around. Soon the whole thing was on the surface, and you could see why it was flailing its tentacles. For there, riding on one like a bull, was Harry, screaming and cheering.

Ron gasped, "Bloody hell!" and Hermione screamed. Ginny was just standing, open mouthed, completely shocked. Out of all the things she thought he would do, that had never been on her list. After a few seconds, the Squid slammed the tentacle that Harry was riding on into the water, hard. Harry lost his grip, and coming back up started swimming back to the shore. The squid, with the treat gone, just slipped back under the water.

Ron met him first, "That was fantastic! Bloody amazing!"

Hermione shot Ron a disapproving glare, "Language, Ronald. He could have been hurt!"

Harry gave them a lopsided smile, "But I got 'em."

Ginny laughed, "Yes Harry, you got him. Now don't do that again or you might give us a heart attack."

For the rest of the day they went around the grounds, giving Harry the royal tour. No secret entrances were mentioned, but Harry didn't really expect them to this early anyway. He didn't need the Death Eaters in tomorrow, he had time. After it began to grow dark they proceeded to the common room, and sat around the fire for a while, just talking as they didn't have homework to do. Harry didn't have a horrible time, and was beginning to think that maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he first thought. Near midnight, Ron began to doze off, and Harry was coming dangerously close to being late for his master, so he suggested that they call it a night. Saying their goodbyes, they parted to their dormitories. Ron was out it seconds, and the other boys were already asleep, so Harry pulled out his book and turned to the first page.

_Master_

_**A/N- well that was a lengthy chapter wasn't it? Does it make up for a 5 mount Hiatus? This is my best chapter by far, if I do say so myself. Reading back, it's amazing how much better I'm writing now than in my first chapter. One day, if I really feel like it, I might go back and redo those chapters. Again, I am sorry for the long wait and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If I ever take this long again don't hesitate to PM me and give me a good shouting. Until next time!**_


	7. Chapter 7: Dueling Fun

Redemption

Chapter 7: A terror in Hogsmeade

_**A/N- I know I said I would update by last Friday, but I have honestly been very busy. Weekdays don't work for me at all, and weekends are not much better. Still, I will not give up this story. I hope you enjoy the new chapter, and don't forget to review!**_

Neville again rose first, just like last Monday and the first day. Now it was time for Harry to keep an eye on him, who knows what he will find. After Neville hastily threw on some cloths and exited the room, Harry cast an invisibility charm on himself and followed him. Neville stopped on almost every corner, and Harry was sure he was paranoid. He kept glancing back over his shoulder, stopping sometimes to listen to footsteps that weren't there. He didn't want to get caught, that much was for sure. Finally reaching an unused classroom, Neville looked around one last time, and slowly backed into the room. Harry slid in after him before he could close the door, and stood in the back left corner, watching and waiting. Neville shut the door behind him, and started pacing, waiting for somebody. After a few minutes, three nocks came, and Neville quickly pulled it open. He ushered whoever it was in, and quickly closed the door. The person was Luna Lovegood. Then she did something that completely shocked Harry. She kissed Neville, right on the lips. He in turn pulled her closer and it turned into a snogging session. Harry quickly regretted his decision to follow Neville, and was sure this was nothing more than two lovebirds gathering to be together alone. But why the secrecy? He never saw them in public together, so there must be a reason for them to meet like this. Sure enough, they broke apart after a few seconds and began to talk.

"The meeting is tonight at 10."

"Ok. I'll tell the guys. What about Harry, have you decided on him yet?"  
Luna shook her head, "He may be outstanding at DADA, but we just don't know him well enough yet. What do you think about him?"

Neville shrugged, "He's nice from what I can tell, and bloody brilliant, too. I think he could really teach us a few things."

Luna sighed, "But we can't trust him."

"Not yet, but I have a feeling he'll turn out all right in the end." Sitting on a desk, he looked at her, "Now, any news on your dad?"

Sorrow became etched on the face of Luna, and Harry knew why. A while back, Luna and her dad were what Death Eaters liked to call 'marks'. They were people that spoke, or in this case wrote, bad things publically about Harry's master. They called them marks because they didn't last long, and whoever took them down got to do whatever they wanted with them, as well as a good sum of galleons. Mr. Lovegood's Quibbler newspaper was becoming a bit of a problem, and Luna was speaking openly against them in Hogwarts. So to shut them up, Bellatrix 'marked' them, and Harry himself hunted Xenophilius down for sport, disguised of course. The brat was becoming annoying, so he held Xenophilius at wand point, and threatened to kill if she did anything more with anti-death eater movements. A threat big enough that fraternizing with a known blood traitor might be enough to end her fathers' life. To this day, Xenophilius was still captive at Voldemort's castle.

Harry was unable to suppress a grin. _This is great._ Now he had the biggest bargaining chip of all, the life of her father.

"Neville, you know they can't get him back. The nerwaggles with protect him though, so don't worry."

Neville just shook his head, "I know, but I'm sick of hiding. This is the one thing in my life I'm not embarrassed about. If they didn't have your dad…"

Luna nodded, a tear running down her cheek, "We'll get him back, and you'll be the first person I introduce him to. I love you, Neville."

Neville's eyes softened, and he pulled her into an embrace. "I love you too."

Meanwhile, Harry was trying not to gag. _Love,_ the trap for the weak, and foolish. Many times Harry's master explained just how pathetic love was. To top it off, the old fool though it was the most powerful force in the world! Disgusting, filthy, worthless thing though it was. I could kill them both right now, and _love_ would not stop me. _Bah! Let them have their weak power, my master and I will ascend to greatness_. Harry quickly moved around the room towards the door, as things began to pick up between the two love birds. They were too distracted, so they didn't notice the door opening and closing by itself. Not wasting any time, Harry quickly made his way back to the dormitory. He certainly wasn't going to be waiting on Ron for the shower.

While at breakfast, Neville sat down next to them. 'Them' being Harry, Ginny, and Hermione, as Ron didn't get the shower first today.

"Morning guys!"

Ginny smiled, "Morning Neville. You look happy today, what happened?" but Harry caught that look of knowing in her eye, and he knew that she knew all about Neville's little secret.

Neville blushed, "Nothing special," and nodded slightly towards Harry.

Ginny gave Neville a look that clearly said, "_You can trust him."_

Neville just shook his head.

"Well if you're sure."

_Do they think I'm stupid_? I'm sitting right here. They quickly dug into their food again, and no more words were said about it.

With about five minutes left before their first class, Ron came running down the hall to their table. He immediately sat down and started stuffing himself.

"Ronald, slow down!" Hermione exclaimed

"No talk, more food." He spit some out of his mouth.

Harry winked at Ginny and fired another stinging hex. Ron's mouth was thankfully empty at the time.

"Hermione!"

"What Ron?"

"Why do you keep doing that?" he was rubbing his rib this time.

"Doing what?"

"Don't act like you don't know!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ginny was fighting to suppress a smile at this point, and Harry wasn't far behind her.

"Every time you tell me to do something and I don't listen, I get stung by a curse. Strange coincidence, don't you think?"

"How could I fire a curse without you knowing when I'm sitting right in front of you? You can be so thick sometimes." She was getting really annoyed now, and the last thing Harry wanted was more drama.

"I think I saw Draco do something with his wand, Ron." he motioned towards Draco.

Draco, unfortunately for himself, was laughing at that exact moment. A dark looked passed over Ron's face.

"I'll get that little weasel in defense class. We start dueling today, don't we?"

"Yep, that's right." It was the only thing Harry was looking forward to all day. Nothing beat the feeling of victory, and with this pathetic crowd he would win without a doubt.

Ginny raised an eyebrow, "You look a little sure of yourself there Harry. I think someone needs to take you down a notch."

Harry smiled, "Is that a challenge?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, "Maybe, maybe not."

"You're on."

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into mate." Ron wasn't kidding. He looked dead serious, "She has a gift with curses, as I learned at a young age."

As they finished up their meals, they made their way to defense against the dark arts. It was everybody's favorite class by far, especially Harry's as it was the only class where he did something productive. He knew all the spells and curses already, but it never hurt to practice. Besides, it was always funny to watch some moron mess up a spell and get sent to the hospital wing. Ron had made several visits of course. The middle of the room had been replaced with a dueling platform today, and large fluffy pillows were set around the stage in case somebody fell, so they didn't break something. While they were all admiring the patterns painted on the platform, which looked like great tongues of fire, Kingsley Shacklebolt walked out of his office to greet the class. Acting as the temporary defense teacher in order to help the students of Hogwarts to defend themselves better, he was an extremely powerful auror and wizard, and a known member of the order of the phoenix. According to rumors around Voldemort's castle, he had even held his own against Bellatrix Lestrange. She denied that rumor, but nobody really doubted it. Tall and intimidating, he was not one to be taken lightly.

"Hello class, I can see you are all excited for the dueling today." Indeed everybody did have a look of anxiety about them; they had obviously been waiting for this.

"Today we will be doing freeform competition; we will be doing our tournament later in the year, with the final duel being performed in the great hall." Harry wasn't sure how he felt about that. He didn't want too much attention drawn to him, and with the final duel being performed in the great hall, it would be almost unavoidable.

"There are to be no lethal curses; only disabling spells are allowed. Anything harmful thrown and that person will be sent to the headmasters office immediately. The round is over once one person is unable to compete any longer. The victor will stay on the platform and face the new challenger; whoever is on the platform on the end wins. Any questions?"

Nobody raised their hand.

"Good. Who wants to go first?" Twelve hands shot in the air instantly. Shacklebolt laughed, "I thought so. Ron, how about you go first. Would anybody like to challenge Ron?"

Everybody's hand dropped except for Draco. "Ah, Mr. Malfoy, go right ahead."

They both stepped onto the platform, taking the spots on each end. Facing each other, they took their stances, wands at the ready. Kingsley flicked his wand and a loud whipping sound pierced the air, signaling the start. Draco fired a curse right from the beginning, looking to catch Ron of guard, "Stupify!"

"Protego!" A shield enveloped Ron, and the spell blasted back towards Malfoy, and he dived to avoid it.

Seeing his chance, Ron fired again, "Expelliarmus!" It landed a good foot from Malfoy, and he had time to recover. "Confundus."

Ron ducked and it sailed over his head, not even close to its target. Rising back to his feet, he quickly responded, "Flippendo!"

Draco went flying backwards, doing flips in the air until he landed hard on his back. He tried to get up, but groaned and quickly laid back down, squirming in pain. Ron walked over, thinking he was triumphant, when he was in turn blasted back. Draco grinned and stood up, another curse already on his lips. "Immobulus"

Ron was defeated, unable to move. The class clapped politely, although the Slytherins were much more enthusiastic about it. After being released, Ron went back to the group, mumbling.

"Dirty cheater, couldn't win in a far fight, If I…" on and on he went. He needed to learn to shut up sometimes.

"Very good Mr. Malfoy, who's next?"

Harry stepped forward, "I would like a go at him sir."

He nodded, "Go right ahead."

As Harry stepped onto the stage, he could see the fear in Draco's eyes. Draco knew what he was capable of, and was rightly afraid. Harry smirked, already planning how he was going to do this. Quickly was the best way, he decided. A little public humiliation would do him good. Shacklebolt cracked his wand, and the duel began.

Draco tried the same strategy, striking first off the start. "Stupify"

Harry turned his body, dodging the spell, and stuck out his wand at the same time. Draco fell down face first, body completely immobile. The duel lasted less than two seconds.

To say the class was speechless would have been an understatement. You could have heard paint drying in that room. After a few seconds, one person clapped and the rest joined in, albeit uncertainly. Kingsley was the first to recover, and he stepped forward, "Very well done Mr. Bolgum. Those quick reflexes will save your life one day, you mark my words."

"Now who's next?" unlike the wave of volunteers that accompanied those words the last few times, this call was met with no response.

Finding Ginny's eyes, Harry raised one eyebrow in an unspoken challenge. She looked like she was having some internal struggle, and she was biting down on her lower lip. In the end; she sighed and raised her hand, bravely facing the inevitable.

Shacklebolt gave a crooked smile. "Weasley, well this should prove interesting. Whenever you're ready."

Ginny nodded and walked up toward the platform. Climbing up onto it; she took her spot opposite Harry. At the whip, nobody moved. She had wisely not jumped at the gun, after seeing what had happened to Draco. Still, waiting wasn't much better than attacking first when it came to dueling Harry. He decided to attack first, and sent a jelly-legs jinx her way. She was prepared, and stepped out of the way.

Responding, great birds flew out of her wand as she shouted, "Avis!"

Harry faked shock, on the inside grinning. He allowed her hopes to soar by letting them within touching distance of him, and then at the last second he transfigured them all to tiny pebbles. With a flick of his wand, he sent them flying back at her.

She had quick reflexes, or was otherwise expecting this, as she quickly levitated a desk in front of her. The pebbles collided onto it with a quick _dah-dah-dum_. Bending the rules slightly, she threw the whole desk at him. He just slowed it so it crashed a good five feet from him. "Engorgio." The desk swelled up, completely blocking his view of Ginny, and (more importantly) her view of him. Quickly making himself disappear, her counter charm was too late. By the time she had shrunk the desk, he was gone. She started randomly casting spells in front of her, and became frustrated when nothing hit. Meanwhile, Harry was chuckling mildly to himself, a foot from her back. Finely deciding enough was enough, he pointed his hand, and she fell down immobilized. He disillusioned himself, to another stunned silence from the audience.

_**A/N- I almost feel bad for you guys. This chapter was supposed to be MUCH longer (I'm talking 1,000+ words), until I realized a plot hole in my story, so that section got pushed back. Well I hope you enjoyed what I did write. I don't think the L+N scene turned out quite as I hoped, however. Review please!**_


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